The supreme court’s decision means ‘the English court can consider what is in [the child’s] best interests’.
Photograph: Tang Ming Tung/Getty Images/Flickr RM

A lesbian woman has won a supreme court battle with her former partner over their seven-year-old daughter. One woman is the youngster’s biological mother and sole legal parent, the other considers herself a de facto parent, judges have heard.

Their relationship broke down in 2011, more than three years after the girl was born after being conceived by IVF treatment. Judges have been told the girl was taken to Pakistan by her biological mother in early 2014.

The second woman then launched legal action and asked judges to order the youngster’s return to the UK. A high court judge and court of appeal judges concluded they did not have the jurisdiction to make such an order because the girl was not habitually resident in the UK when legal proceedings were launched.

But supreme court justices have overturned those decisions. They ruled on Wednesday that the girl had been habitually resident and allowed an appeal by the second woman. A lawyer representing the woman said a judge in England could now consider what was in the child’s best interests.

Maria Wright, who works for Freemans Solicitors, said: “[She] feared the consequence of the high court and court of appeal’s decisions was that [the child] would lose her relationship with her parent entirely.”

Wright added: “The consequence of the supreme court’s decision is that the English court can properly consider what is in [the child’s] best interests and, if appropriate, order contact or [the child’s] return to England.

“Further, the supreme court has brought welcome clarity to the law regarding a child’s habitual residence.”

The case will now return to the high court where a judge will make decisions on what happens next. Five supreme court justices had analysed evidence at a hearing in London in December.